Asians desperate to stay connected on trips, western travellers far less so

The top six countries in a poll showing not everyone appreciates work-life balance when travelling are from Asia, a Hotels.com study reveals.

The Expedia-owned accommodation provider conducted a study among 28 countries around the world to understand more about how travellers are using technology when on a trip.

Some 85% of travellers in Thailand refuse to disconnect when on-the-road for a leisure trip, followed by South Korea (78%), Japan (69%), China (67%), Singapore (60%) and Taiwan (53%).

The UK and US come at number 15 and 17 respectively, with only 35% and 33% unwilling to shun their devices.

India, the country with the world’s second largest population and fastest growing smartphone userbase, came last in the poll (number 28) with only 20% of travellers unwilling to disconnect from devices.

Interestingly, in India, travel bookings from mobile and tablet are eating into desktop’s share. Perhaps Indians are using mobile/tablet devices heavily at home, and behave entirely opposite while travelling out of India?

The study also reveals that smartphones are the second most important item (next only to passport) for Americans during a trip.

However, one in three Americans regret spending a lot of time using their devices once they return from vacation. Still, a third of American travellers think it is important to access social media wherever they are.

Weirdly, when it comes to the countries that exaggerate their travel experience back home, again Asian countries lead the chart with China in the top spot with 67% of travellers admitting to over-egging their experience.